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There’s no need for her to tell me anything else anymore.
“Past is past, remember?” I add, hooking my arm in hers as we turn to move toward her suite.
The mountain of designer brand luggage piled next to the door makes her gasp with shock.
“I can see why you didn’t want to lug all that here,” I quip as we get closer to it. But it’s not what Chloe needs to hear right now.
Without her saying a single word, I know exactly what she’s thinking.
We both are.
If the luggage has arrived, then the real Ms. De Laurent will soon follow.
Hell, I even told my receptionist to tell her to get here whenever she could.
I had no idea my whole life was gonna change the moment I met Chloe.
But Chloe knows I’m on her side, and although it’s an unspoken rule for her not to mention who she really is right now, I figure she needs her mind set at ease once and for all.
But this aching in my pants is vying for my attention too.
Seems like a few things could be getting in our way before I can claim Chloe properly, by the looks of things.
I open the suite door and start lifting the luggage inside before Chloe stops me, her hand on my arm.
“Xander, stop. I can’t do this anymore…,” she stammers, her voice breaking with emotion.
I drop the bag I’m holding and put my hands on her shoulders.
Her trembling body feels frail to the touch. Like she might break any moment.
“Hey,” I coo. “It’s me here, okay. Just us…,” I tell her, moving her inside and holding her like I know she wants to be held right now.
Just holding her so she can feel safe, even though her body’s wracked with sobs, I know it’s only the feelings she’s been bottling up all day.
“I’m not Ms. De Laurent… I’m Chloe Faulkner… I’m just a nobody college dropout on my way home,” she blubbers.
“The airline…that stupid hostess. She didn’t have her glasses or something. Couldn’t see my ticket right and put me in first class,” she goes on, sniffing now as the last of her tears subside.
Feeling better now, she’s told me, I guess.
“And when the real Ms. De Laurent, whatever her name is, didn’t show, you just kept up appearances?” I ask.
Not needing an answer, but I feel her head bobbing a nod against my chest.
The fallout from all this is gonna be big, I know it will.
But a part of me wants all that side of things to be over as quickly as possible so Chloe and I can be how we’re supposed to be from now on.
And old man Condor?
Well, he might be losing his best employee before he gets his latest one.
If and when she does turn up.
CHAPTER NINE
Chloe
Hearing about Ms. De Laurent’s luggage arriving is one thing, and I dodge that bullet with Xander’s help.
I get the same help and support from him once he makes it crystal clear he knows who I’m not without actually saying it after I finally explain how I came to be here.
But physically seeing all her baggage is another thing, which unglues me pretty damned quick.
It’s not even proper luggage, though, it looks like something from a reptile exhibit.
“It isn’t real crocodile skin…is it?” I ask, making a face after watching Xander bring in the last of it once I’ve finally got my shit back together.
“No,” Xander says in his deep voice, and I almost breathe a sigh of relief.
“…It’s alligator,” he adds, frowning. “Vintage too, by the looks,” he says. But not with any real interest.
“Who would even –?” I start to ask, but Xander only shrugs before I notice the designer labels on it all and feel my skin crawl.
No wonder everybody hates rich people. Right?
But Xander’s rich.
Nobody hates him. At least, I know I don’t.
Quite the opposite, in fact.
I can tell my reaction kind of amuses him, but I think he shares my opinion on things like animals used as luggage.
“Doesn’t make sense,” is all I can say, feeling a chill run over me before Xander asks me again if I even want to stay in this hotel.
“You said your place is pretty much the same,” I say, not meaning to sound bratty, and he smiles to himself.
“Well, this place is actually a little newer,” he remarks, and we both laugh.
“Anywhere with you is fine by me,” I finally decide out loud.
“Then it’s out of these clothes and into a warm bath,” Xander adds, promising he’ll keep his hands to himself if I don’t feel like picking up where we left off earlier just yet.
“But… what I mean is, what will I wear once we’re…,” I ask him, sounding totally confused and just a little naïve.
Xander chuckles and checks his watch.
“Your new wardrobe should be here any minute now if that boutique’s worth its salt. Plus, I have a bag I can have sent up in the car.
